The Game Of Life

Jiang Feng saw a lunch box on the counter of the back kitchen.

A blue, three-layer, expensive, and extremely insulating one. It was very common in high school, but a rare one in university, fit for the rich.

"Senior, is this your lunch box?" Jiang Feng asked, he really couldn"t think of anyone else who would use such a lunch box in University.

"It"s not mine, it"s Zhang Wei"s. He has another one. He had asked me to fill it with rice on the first level, vegetables on the second level and soup on the third level. " Ji Yue explained.

Jiang Feng nodded at the idea,it was indeed quite good and was environmentally friendly.

It appeared that Zhang Wei had made up his mind to eat their delivery meals every day. He had indeed lived up worthy to the legend of someone wealthy who had sold an app for tens of thousands of dollars. His meal expenses this month could top most of the students" living expenses.

It was already after lunch, but Jiang Jiankang was still busying around in the kitchen. His precious Shaoxing wine had been taken out and there were 20 or 30 plates on the cooking table.

Shaoxing wine? We must be making Buddha"s Temptation 

As befitting of the name, there were a lot of valuable ingredients necessary for Buddha"s Temptation, such as lamb shank, pork belly, pork hoof tips, tendons, abalone, shark"s fin, sea cuc.u.mbers, and scallops. Moreover, simply from the look of the ingredients, they did not seem like the common ones on the market, nor were they the ones that Jiang Jiankang could gather with short notice.

Their family restaurant was just a normal stir fry restaurant, they did not have the wide means and purchasing power of big hotels.

Jiang Jiangkang was cutting the deer tendons. The scallops were soaking. On the left was a piece of authentic Jinhua Ham sent by the old master"s friend a few years ago.

It seemed that Jiang Jiankang was going to empty his coffers for this.

This Jinhua ham was his treasure. Jiang Feng had never tasted it.

"Dad, where did you get so many ingredients?" Asked Jiang Feng curiously.

"The guest has brought them himself, it"s that professor of yours. He came for lunch one day after the opening. His surname should be..should be Chen. He is quite old." Jiang Jiankang said, pointing to the abalone on the plate, "Go and slice the abalone in a crisscross fashion for me."

Jiang Feng went to get a knife.

The abalone was a four-head abalone of excellent quality. He wondered what methods Professor Li had used to get the fresh four-head abalone to the non coastal A City. Generally, dried abalone was used to make Buddha"s Temptation because the fragrance of dried abalones was stronger. However, the guest had brought the ingredients and everyone had their preferences. For Jiang Jiankang, who brewed a good stock, fresh abalone suited his preferences more as well.

Jiang Feng had never tasted this dish called Buddha"s Temptation before.

It was not because the ingredients were precious. If they were to go to a hotel restaurant now, they would be able to buy a bowl of Buddha"s Temptation for a fairly large amount. But Old Master Jiang had a high demand for the quality of the ingredients. He didn"t accept any hormone-injected meat or vegetables covered with pesticides, if the Jiang family wanted to make a Buddha"s Temptation, they had to use the best ingredients.

After all, Buddha"s Temptation was also one of the signature dishes of Taifeng Restaurant back in those days. Old Master Jiang would never allow his descendants to pollute the excellent olden day Jiang family dishes.

Jiang Jiankang patiently dealt with 18 kinds of main ingredients and 12 kinds of auxiliary ingredients in turn. During this period, he took the time to make a sloppy lunch for everyone. Before Jiang Feng went back to the cla.s.s, he was spent the entire time waiting for the fish maw to expand.

Jiang Jiankang was no longer the main chef of a state-owned restaurant. It was a rare opportunity for him to get such good ingredients to make a complex dish.

At noon, the sun was blazing, and the heat made people dizzy.

On the way to the cla.s.sroom, Jiang Feng called Old Master Jiang.

The old master never had the habit of taking naps. According to his biological clock, he should be cooking pig feed for his treasured pigs now. An abundant afternoon tea, how enviable.

"h.e.l.lo, Xiao Feng, what can I do for you?" On the other end of the phone came the booming voice of Old Master Jiang.

"Grandpa, a professor from our school would like to invite you to come and make a bowl of Salix Leaf-shaped Steamed Bird"s Nest Soup." Jiang Feng went straight to the topic.

"I"m not doing it." The old master"s refusal was very straightforward.

"Our professor would prepare his own ingredients. He came to the shop today to find dad to make Buddha"s Temptation, and brought his own ingredients as well. I took a look and saw that the ingredients were of high quality. They"re definitely rare top-grade ingredients." Jiang Feng still secretly hoped to complete this side quest.

The five words "ingredients were of high quality" seemed to have swayed Old Master Jiang, who went silent for a while and said, "Why did the professor of your school specifically come to invite me to make this dish?"

If someone had specially come to invite Old Master Jiang to make a dish 30 years ago, he would not be surprised. After all, he was still a little famous state-owned restaurant"s main chef at that time, and he also served many people who went there just for his name. But now after he had retired for so many years, he was not the only one who could cook the dish. There were many good chefs in the world.

"When our professor"s father was young, he once tasted the Salix Leaf-shaped Steamed Bird"s Nest Soup made by great grandfather in Taifeng Restaurant. He wanted his father to be able to taste it again." Jiang Feng explained.

"I"ll make a trip down to A City next week." The old man sighed, "It"s been 70 years ago, to think that there are still people who remember Taifeng Restaurant."

Jiang Feng hung up the phone, it had only been a few minutes, but his mobile phone was a little bit hot. He didn"t know if it was the sun"s fault or that it was because his phone"s tendency to develop a fever was too strong.

...

In the afternoon, Jiang Feng was distracted in cla.s.s.

That had been his first time seeing Jiang Jiankang make Buddha"s Temptation. He had failed to witness the whole process with his own eyes, and it had been bugging him in the back of his mind.

"Feng"ge, what are you thinking about? You have already looked at your watch three times in two minutes." w.a.n.g Hao nudged Jiang Feng with his elbow.

"My dad was making Buddha"s Temptation in the kitchen in the afternoon." Jiang Feng replied.

"I"ve eaten Buddha"s Temptation before. It"s available in the Citi Zen Restaurant in our city at 681 per bowl. Two gulps and it"s gone though. It was indeed delicious, but it"s not as amazing as it"s been written about in the novels." w.a.n.g Hao expressed that he was also a man who had seen the world.

Jiang Feng had heard of Citi Zen Restaurant, their main specialty dishes were Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, and the Buddha"s Temptation didn"t even count as their signature dish.

"If you"d eaten the real one, you wouldn"t be thinking that way. My grandfather said that there was a restaurant in Fujian where the fragrance of their Buddha"s Temptation spread out over a distance of 10 miles.And there were only 100 servings per day. You wouldn"t be able to eat it even if you"ve made an appointment three months in advance." Jiang Feng said, pretending to be listening to the cla.s.s, he turned a page following the teacher.

"Is the one Uncle is making today like that as well?" w.a.n.g Hao began to salivate involuntarily.

"Definitely not, but definitely better than the $688 one you had." Jiang Feng answered.

The former chef of that restaurant in Fujian could be regarded as Old Master Jiang"s half teacher, who had taught him how to make the Buddha"s Temptation.

That family now owned a restaurant that was famous all over the country. The Jiang family now had a restaurant with a prosperous business too though.

In addition there was also a drugstore about to open, a tailor"s shop that had its fate left in heaven"s hands, a pet shop that depended on small profits and high sales and the three pigs that the old master loved.

After cla.s.s, Jiang Feng and w.a.n.g Hao rushed to the store with their school bags.

w.a.n.g Xiulian was sitting in front of the counter, with her legs propped up and triple chins out as she watched her dramas. Jiang Jiankang had brought a chair out and sat in the kitchen to watch his Buddha"s Temptation.

The chairs in Health Restaurant had one definitive feature, they were st.u.r.dy.

The lotus leaf had sealed all the fragrance inside making the Buddha"s Temptation just look like a plain wine jar.

"Son, cut the vegetables." Jiang Jiankang instructed, his gaze not leaving the jar in front of him.

Jiang Feng cut the vegetables with a knife.

From five o"clock onwards, guests trickled into the shop.

Jiang Jiankang had given Jiang Feng the power to take charge of the kitchen. Although it was cruel to the guests, Jiang Feng had not heard the melodious notification tones ringing out when gaining experience points for a long time. His experience points had not increased for two days. In the morning, 1000 points had been used to upgrade his physics abilities, allowing him to successfully achieve reverse growth.

When it was nearing six o"clock, Professor Li and his wife walked into the shop, supporting an old man on crutches.

"Dad, be careful." Professor Li helped his father to the nearest table and sat down.

Ji Yue entered the kitchen and notified Jiang Jiankang that Professor Li was here.

Jiang Jiankang brought out the entire wine jar directly.

He removed the lid and lifted the lotus leaf off.

The fragrance rushed into their noses, spreading out throughout the entire shop.

The customers in the shop who had their heads buried in their phones could not help but look up to find the source of fragrance.

"What dish is that, so fragrant!" Asked a boy in gla.s.ses.

"Buddha"s Temptation." Ji Yue answered attentively.

Poverty shut him up.

Li Ming shook his head and stood up tremblingly. Professor Li and his wife hurriedly helped him up for fear that he would fall down.

"It"s not this scent." Li Mingyi"s voice was extremely hoa.r.s.e.

"Sorry, Chef Jiang, please pack it up for us!" Professor Li said apologetically.

"My culinary skills are not refined enough."

Ji Yue hurriedly searched for the takeaway box.

"Xiao Jiang, I wonder if your grandfather...?" Professor Li turned his eyes to Jiang Feng.

"My grandfather said he would come to A City next week." Jiang Feng replied.

"I"m sorry to have to trouble you, apologies." Professor Li said repeatedly.

"Is your grandfather Jiang Weiguo?" Asked Li Mingyi.

"Yes." Jiang Feng nodded.

"I remember him. He was just barely the height of my hip at that time. When serving us, Huiqing had praised him for his handsome appearance." Li Ming"s turbid eyes filled with a little more l.u.s.ter.

Then he murmured some incomprehensible words and left the shop with the help of Professor Li and his wife.